Author Topic: 1st Inspection ~ Mother Hive Feb 16 (Read 14274 times)

Jen · « **on:** February 16, 2015, 04:29:43 pm »

WOW!!! Don't know if I should shave this comb off?... if I leave it on I'll squish A LOT of bees? Be back soon

10 minutes later ~ I don't see a single drone in this mob

iddee · « **Reply #1 on:** February 16, 2015, 04:35:53 pm »

Shave it. You need the wax.

Jen · « **Reply #2 on:** February 16, 2015, 04:42:10 pm »

Okay, Thanks

Perry · « **Reply #3 on:** February 16, 2015, 05:04:36 pm »

Was there a picture with that post?

Jen · « **Reply #4 on:** February 16, 2015, 05:13:06 pm »

Here ya go Perry, I thought I posted them

Okay, so I've just worked my way into the center of the super, they have half or less of their stores and there are eggs and larva in it.

should I continue into the deep to look for queen cells or close it up and add a medium, I have a medium ready...

iddee · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2015, 05:35:53 pm »

Now you know why I don't use the shims. I never leave open space in a hive. It is ALWAYS the first place they draw wax.

I would remove the shim, tilt the next box back and look for Q cells. Then remove it and tilt the next box. If I didn't see Q cells looking at the bottom, I wouldn't remove frames.

Perry · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2015, 05:42:03 pm »

What Iddee said, remove shim and probably throw on your first super judging by those pics. Nice and strong.

Jen · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2015, 05:55:03 pm »

Well I made an exec decision and removed the frames from the super, one at a time and cleaned them up. They are more than 1/2 way thru their stores, less than 4 day old eggs, and larvae, tons of pollen stored.

each frame I removed I scraped off a lot of comb that attached the top of the deep frames... to the bottom of the super frames, a bunch of drone larvae/pupae was destroyed. But I felt like I should clean it up before adding the additonal medium.

As far as I can tell there was no queen cells on the super frames, just a lot of wonky drone comb. But I haven't gotten into the deep yet?

I didn't spot the queen in this super, but there were so many bees and I only have so much time today, maybe another hour.

Should I?

iddee · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2015, 06:36:51 pm »

If the deep sits on the bottom board, no. All is well. I'm not sure how many boxes are on that hive.

Jen · « **Reply #9 on:** February 16, 2015, 06:41:58 pm »

Phew! I just got in. Iddee, I make another exec decision and checked the deep. This hive is one deep and one super. The deep if filling up with plenty of capped brood and larvae. Still didn't see queen. But that's okay, plenty of evidence.

I found no queen cells of any kind. That blew me away with that may bees in there.

I'll post some more pic later, gotta go button her up

I'm giddy

tefer2 · « **Reply #10 on:** February 16, 2015, 06:48:01 pm »

Those shims work well for feeding in winter. But when winter is over, they need to go on top of the inner cover or back to the garage.
The bees are ahead of you, bet you remember what comes next!

iddee · « **Reply #11 on:** February 16, 2015, 06:49:47 pm »

You asked at 2:55.
I answer at 3:36.
You were already out doing.
Just how short is my allowed time for responding?

Jen · « **Reply #12 on:** February 16, 2015, 07:35:35 pm »

Iddee - 2 minutes max

Jen · « **Reply #13 on:** February 16, 2015, 07:38:13 pm »

Hi Tef

I put another medium on.

iddee · « **Reply #14 on:** February 16, 2015, 07:40:23 pm »

That's what I thought. You ran out of ritalin, didn't you?

tefer2 · « **Reply #15 on:** February 16, 2015, 07:53:30 pm »

Hope you took a bowl with ya to get that snow white honey comb off the lid.
My mouth is watering, just thinking about it.

I store my "iddee robber screens" inside the shim after moving it on top.
One less thing to store elsewhere.

barry42001 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 16, 2015, 09:48:26 pm »

Was wondering how you had all that excessive comb, then saw the shim and said well that explains that, and should have clearly defined need for proper bee space lol, understand they make excellent fire wood.

barry42001 · « **Reply #17 on:** February 16, 2015, 09:50:04 pm »

Jen's valium drip was running a bit light lol:P

Jen · « **Reply #18 on:** February 16, 2015, 10:54:46 pm »

Iddee and Barry

BANG ZOOM

Jen · « **Reply #19 on:** February 17, 2015, 01:30:13 pm »

Consolidation and recap of my inspection yesterday. Yes! I was excited and a little anxious to find what I would find. My hives are up and running! And I got to see the queen! same purchased queen as last year, she's running around in her green tiarra

It Was A Really Good Day ~

I found no queen cells of any kind, that's what I was worried about, but I found a massive amount of bees, more than any other hives I have had.

plain comb built on the underside of the inner cover. This is because I used a shim. I think if I would have use fondant or sugar cakes all winter, the bees wouldn't have built this comb... thinking out loud

The frames from the deep and the frames from the medium were stuck together with plenty of drone comb. Cleaned it all up.

Then I got into the bottom deep, plenty of capped brood, eggs, and larvae. Maybe not a perfect pattern in the capped brood but I'll take it

we'll see how she does this summer ~